In wake of normalization, will the Palestinians board the peace train?
What is in Israel’s interests is to make overtures to the Palestinians, with support from the Gulf.
By JPOST EDITORIALPresident Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting with the Palestinian leadership to discuss the United Arab Emirates' deal with Israel to normalize relations, in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank August 18, 2020(photo credit: REUTERS/MOHAMAD TOROKMAN/POOL)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is understandably feeling sidelined and isolated. He has watched the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain move toward normalization and peace with Israel, a process that the Palestinian leadership has spent more than a decade fighting against.This reactionary policy has led to thuggish attacks on anyone accused of “normalizing” in the West Bank and has included attempts to break relations with peace groups and ruin relationships with pro-two-states Israelis. The Palestinian Authority’s logic is that it is opposing Israel because the Jewish state has not been working with it towards an agreement.In the wake of the peace deals with the Gulf, the Palestinian leader went to the UN to claim that normalization was a violation of just and lasting peace, and called on the global community to hold an international conference to “launch a genuine peace process.”Much of what Abbas says seems contradictory. He slammed the “illusion of peace for peace” in August and attacks normalization while calling for peace. He told Russian President Vladimir Putin he was ready for resumption of peace efforts, while also calling for more “international legitimacy” for his movement. It’s unclear what kind of peace he’s talking about when he slams Israel and won’t work with the US.The fact is that Abbas is in a difficult place, made more difficult by false promises to the Palestinians over the years. Those empty promises resulted in the Palestinians believing that they could continue to incite against Israel and attack “normalization” while also demanding normalization from Israel.The “peace process” concept has been played out by Israel teaching peace and giving concessions and the Palestinians never doing anything except not resorting to more terrorism. It was considered a great effort of the Ramallah leadership simply to not support terrorism, and anything beyond that – like having an education system that actually shows Israel on maps and doesn’t call Haifa a “settlement” or “occupied Palestine” – would not be necessary.In a sense, Abbas painted himself into a corner. Now, isolated and sidelined, he is talking about holding elections after fifteen years. Having destroyed Palestinian democracy, at least in part with the tacit support of Israel, the US and Western and Middle Eastern governments, he now is considering working with Hamas. This comes under a Turkish umbrella trying to insert itself into Palestinian affairs, a role played traditionally by Jordan and Saudi Arabia.There are now rumors that the Palestinians could hold elections, a promise we have heard before and which is unlikely to be fulfilled. Overall the picture is of a Ramallah leadership that is considering moving closer to Turkey, Hamas and Qatar, and away from Jordan and the Gulf.That is potentially bad news in the short term for security cooperation between Israel and the Palestinian Security Forces. The US has largely reduced its support for the training of Palestinian security and its coordination with Israel, a mission that began in 2005 during the Bush era and was largely successful. Even if relations have been sour, security cooperation between Israel and the PA has been close and successful for many years.It is important to recognize that despite all the problems with Abbas, he is a symptom of the larger failure to achieve peace, rather than its sole cause. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not sought to push forward a peace process either, instead building relations with the Gulf on his concept that through strength, Israel will achieve recognition.
Now that Israel has gotten recognition from new friends in the Gulf – and potentially will get it from more states in the region – it is time, from a position of strength, to reach out to Ramallah. It is not in Israel’s interests to see Fatah move towards Turkey, which has one of the most anti-Israel regimes in the world.What is in Israel’s interests is to make overtures to the Palestinians, with support from the Gulf. That outreach could include economic support and more flexibility on freedom of movement as well as other needs of the Palestinians. Now’s the time for Israel and the Gulf to make the move.
